Studying full-time, and working full-time

Hi there,
I am currently studying full-time with the Open University. However, my job situation could potentially change in the next few weeks.

Is it possible to study full-time, as well as working five days a week?

I don't mean this just in the sense of studying with the OU, but studying a degee in general.

From my point of view, I could be okay if I am very tight with my time management.

If need be, I could go down to part-time study, though I don't want to do that unless absolutely necessary.

Any tips or advice?

It's possible, many people have done it, though it may impact your assignment scores and have a negative impact on your mental health. As you said, you can defer a module and go down to part time if it was too much. Ultimately, it's good to ask yourself why you want to get it done as soon as possible. There's no harm in doing it over 5-6 years.

Every single student I've seen try this in 8 years teaching and 10 years working in HE has crashed and burned at some point.

You will hear stories of people saying they managed. But it's about more than 'managing'. I've never seen a successful ending with this, students have either chronically underachieved, left the job, or have switched to part time.

A student I have now started working part time instead and has moved from mid-40s when working full time scores to high-60s now.

Obviously it's your own decision and you know how well you can do better than anybody here does, but go in with your eyes open.

That is very true. I have heard of many people doing it, but I'm not entirely sure how it would impact the overall achievement — which is ultimately what is important to me. Though I would like to get the degree done quickly so I can progress and move on. Having said that, there is no harm in doing it in five or six years. So part time may be the way forward, should it be necessary.

Generally, when people start to become overwhelmed/exhausted by their assignments and deadlines, and remember assignments are never straight forward and require so much time to do and that doesn't include keeping up with the study weeks, they start to aim for just passing or are unable to really polish off their assignment to get those higher scores. I think it's still possible to get 2:1 though if that's what you're aiming for. I've not come across someone working full time and studying full time who got a 1st, but I'm sure it's not impossible. If you are aiming for a 1st, then I don't think doing it full time is the way to go. I don't think I would've achieved a first if I was working full time and/or studying full time. Having more space and time to polish off assignments really makes a difference.